Corruption of Epoch
by Age of Cosmos
Summary: Dan Phantom will do anything to keep his power-even go back in time, murder his younger self, and destroy Clockwork. Will Dan end up saving the universe, or destroying it?


Corruption of Epoch

Chapter 1: Broken Future

His heart pounded against his chest, so fast he felt it would explode if he stopped a moment to catch his breath. His blood felt hot and sticky from where Dan's claws had swiped across his shoulder. He froze in fear when he heard the voice.

"Your time is up Danny! It's been up for ten years!"

He heard maniacal laughter come from all directions.

"You can't run from your future".

He ran more until he tripped.

He'd been running for two days. He could still hear the cries from his fellow ghosts as they were slaughtered trying to hold him back. Ember. Johnny. Skulker. He could still feel Ember's cold flesh against his, slowly dying…

"NO!" he yelled at himself, "I'm not dying here, trapped like some animal!" He rose to his feet and, with renewed vigor, started to run. He looked ahead and saw his worst nightmare… his future.

The crowds ran wild, screaming in terror as 'the ghost boy' fought off Dan Phantom. The teenaged ghost charged an alpha bolt and sent Dan flying into a nearby building, causing the structure - weakened from an earlier fight - to groan and sway until it finally collapsed in a dirty pile of rust and steel. The ghost sighed in relief.

But with a mighty shake, the steel went airborne and a flaming ghost stood up, resembling a phoenix rising from the ashes. They stared at each other, coming from opposite worlds, representing a past neither of them wanted or needed.

"You think you won, Danny," Dan sneered. "Or should I say... Dani." Dan opened his mouth and with the power of a thousand dead, he unleashed his ghostly wail and completely obliterated the spot where Dani once stood. "Goodbye cousin," he snickered.

He turned and faced the crowed and reveled in their terror-filled faces. He ripped a hole into the Ghost Zone.

He stepped into the Zone and noticed that the usual pulsating greens and blues were slowly dimming and losing their ever-present luminous glow. Dan hovered a bit and flew with purpose into the scorched castle of the former 'Ghost King'.

Sidestepping each trap and lock, he wound his way up the twisting stairs and into the treasure room and prison of Pariah Dark. There was a maniacal smiling pumpkin with a jade sword nested deep inside. He smiled with glee. "Ah, the Soul Shredder," Dan pulled it out and, in a flash of purple, a tall muscular medieval knight stood in confusion.

But then he kneeled in respect. "Orders? My new master", he said.

Dan ignored his knight and walked up to the prison. He pulled out a grisly, skull-shaped key, put it in the lock, and a white light shot out of the sarcophagus. With a hiss it clicked open.

Dan stared and a monster of a ghost stared back. Without any warning Dan tore the crown from Pariah Dark's head and Lord Dark screamed in pain. Dan used Dark's pain as a distraction and locked him away once more. Dan walked towards the cage that held the Ring of Rage and The Crown of Fire.

He turned to his servant. "Summon my minions and have them declare their allegiance to me, King Phantom!"

His minion called his ghostly horse, Nightmare. "What if they won't? My master."

Flames from his crown leeched into his eyes and an insane look crossed his face. "Feed them to the Behemoth." Fright Knight turned to leave but his king stopped him. "Oh and minion, began the search for the Reality Gauntlet and summon my ghost army".

The Zone (two hours later)

The masses of ghosts assembled on the island as the king commanded them too, mostly out of curiosity then any sense of duty or loyalty. The castle had been rebuilt to its former glory with a few modern upgrades, namely ghost cannons and shielding. The whispering was almost deafening and then BOOM! An explosion of light and noise silenced the masses.

The king stepped out the shadows and onto the balcony. In a commanding voice he spoke out, "My fellow ghosts, as you may know the former the king is dead." The king went silent for a moment to let it sink in. "I offer you a choice pledge your allegiance to me. With the backing of my army and your loyalty, we can take the human world for ourselves!" With each sentence his voice got louder and more commanding "With the human world subjugated to our needs, we will usher in a new night, and A NEW KINGDOM WITH GHOSTS BEING THE OVERLORDS!"

The crowd erupted in cheers and applause.

The same day

Ember had been re-reading the same note for over ten minutes, the note written on old and expensive paper said:

The king has cordially invited you to attend a feast of celebration at the great hall at 8 p.m.

She put her flaming blue hair up and changed into her rocker outfit. She flew out into the badlands, past the Dragon realm and back onto Pariah's keep as it was once known. She opened the wooden spiked door and slowly walked up the stairs, walked past the skeleton guards and opened another pointed entrance.

A long wooden table with various delicacies sat untouched as various ghosts and servants hustled and chatted as they waited for their king to appear. The flames dimmed and went out as an arc of lightning boomed and flashed onto the biggest chair and King Phantom appeared.

He ripped off a big thigh and bit into it. His fellow ghosts took his cue and began eating. Ember stood awkwardly in the door unsure of how to proceed. The king pointed to a chair.

She walked over to where he pointed and slowly pulled her chair out and sat down. Plates of food began appearing in front of her.

Ember picked at her food, and the king ignored her and chatted with Aragon. Irritated that she was being ignored, she mumbled, "dipstick." Out of nowhere, a deep rumble went about the room and she realized it was the king laughing.

He keeled over holding his gut. King phantom regained his composure and told the ghosts to leave. She waited a moment, but he continued to laugh. Finally she had enough and yelled, "Well what's so funny?" But he just laughed harder. Even more irritated, she began to leave.

"Wait, just a moment it's just I haven't heard you call me that name in over ten years." He waited a moment. "Don't recognize me? Hold on maybe this will help." Angelic rings that she hadn't seen in over ten years washed over him and Danny Phantom appeared.

Baffled, she began to spout nonsense. "B…but I thought you were dead!"

A pained expression went over his face. "I was… but I'm back. This form -it's a trick I use on stupid ghost hunters". "The reason I sent for you is this: every king there needs to have a queen. What do you say? I can picture it now, a whole continent shouting your name, power and fame. Your very own throne and a room in the palace and with you by my side."

She mulled over his words and she thought about the power and fame. "Well?" The king asked.

Ember smiled. "YES!"

Clockwork's Lair

Clockwork stared calmly at the wild and pulsating blue vortex of Epoch seeing each passage of moments, watching each stream veer uncontrollably to the left and right and then splash off the fall. The blue streams picked up again, back and forth along the circular cosmos of age. A cascade of orange light rode the flood of Chronos.

The damaging of an epoch, like DNA mutating, happens every so often. There is no fix, no cure. You can only limit the damage the epoch does. Redirecting time to a bright future where one mistake would ruin a world, a future. A birth of a mighty ghost. Powerful enough to halt time, to blot out the sun and squeeze the stars.


End file.
